PingPong Payments: Review, Fees and Features
If you have been exploring platforms to receive payments from international clients in India recently, you might have come across PingPong Payments. It's a global money transfer service company founded in 2015 in New York with the global headquarters situated in Hangzhou, China.
Should you pick PingPong Payments to receive cross-border payments? We will help you answer this question by analyzing its features, its costs, and our expert opinion about it. At the end, we will also highlight how Skydo can be a better alternative for PingPong Payments.
What Is PingPong Payments?
PingPong Payment's global presence has made it a popular platform for e-commerce sellers and business owners to receive payments from foreign clients effortlessly. We have identified a few key points about PingPong payments that you must know while evaluating the platform.
Virtual Bank Accounts
If you are unaware of virtual accounts, we recommend reading our virtual bank account blog to get complete details. In short, it's a digital account linked to your bank account and has an 18-digit bank account number that you share with your clients to accept payments. With PingPong payments, you can create virtual accounts in 15 different currencies. You also have the choice to receive payments in the same currency and then convert them into 25+ currencies.
Focus on E-Commerce
PingPong Payments is mostly sought after by e-commerce sellers because it integrates with major marketplaces and e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, and Rakuten. That means if you're selling goods online on different platforms, you can manage payments of all these apps in a single place.
Solutions for International Trade
Even if you're not an e-commerce seller but pursuing some form of international trade, PingPong Payments could still be a good choice. For example, you can use it for making international payments to your suppliers in 195 countries using SWIFT transfer.
A Compliant Platform
PinPong Payments complies with international regulations like Anti Money Laundering (AML), Know Your Customer (KYC), and Payment Service Directive (PSD2). It also holds 60 financial payment licenses in major economies like China, Hong Kong, Europe, and the US.
PingPong Fees to Receive International Payments in India
While PingPong Payments advertises can be a low-cost solution, the actual costs can be high depending on the transaction amount and forex rates. Here's a quick breakdown of its fees with examples.
PingPong charges a 1% transaction fee on every payment you receive. This might seem like a low fee, however, it might be a lot of money if the transaction amount is high. For example, if you receive a payment of USD 10,000, then the transaction fee is USD 100 or INR 8500, considering the exchange rate of 1 USD = INR 85.
PingPong also doesn't disclose the exact exchange rate it applies when converting currencies. This means there is a markup typically between 1% to 2% of the existing exchange rate. Let’s assume the markup is 2% and the current exchange rate of 1 USD is Rs. 85. The markup will be Rs. 1.7 (2% of Rs. 85) meaning the effective exchange rate will be Rs. 83.3. So for a payment of USD 10,000, you will receive INR 8,33,000 instead of INR 8,50,000
The same fee structure applies to Amazon Global Selling users too.
We have compiled the above fees into an illustration so you get a better idea of how much you can expect if you receive payments via PingPong in US dollars.
Pros of PingPong Payments
If you settle for PingPong payments, these are the three advantages you can expect from the payment solution:
Integration with Multiple Marketplaces
PingPong Payments’ easy integration with global selling platforms like Amazon, Shopify, and Etsy makes it convenient to expand business across borders without worrying about payment management.
Free VAT and Global Tax Payments
The integrated tax management solution helps you pay VAT, GST, and other applicable taxes in 12 countries. This helps you make payments within the protocols and avoid penalties.
Free FIRA on Every Transaction
A Foreign Inward Remittance Advice (FIRA) is an essential document as it proves you have received an international payment in India. Banks charge a fee for issuing FIRA every time, but platforms like PingPong Payments provide it for free within the PingPong dashboard.
Cons of PingPong
There are two main drawbacks if you choose to open a PingPong account:
Exchange Rate Markup
There is no transparency on how the exchange rate conversion works. There might be a markup of around 2% on the exchange rate meaning lesser value.
1% Fee Can Add Up
In case of a large payment volume, the 1% transaction fee adds up. This is especially a matter of concern for exporters who receive large payments from their clients at one go.
Unavailability of Local Customer Support
Like many other international payments platform, PingPong Payments doesn't have an India based support team, which can make resolution of queries a challenge for Indian customers..
PingPong Payments Review: The Good, Bad and Ugly
We dug into the reviews of PingPong Payments on Trustpilot, a software review website to bring out the good, bad, and ugly sides of it:
Customer Support
PingPong Payments receives brownie points in this area. We found two reviews on the website that highlight the professional and helpful nature of the customer support team. One reviewer even goes to the extent of mentioning the names of the customer service executives who helped her resolve the issue.
Concerns about Getting Refunds
This is where it gets bad. Getting balance refunds after closing the account continues to be an issue. Users get frustrated filling out documents and going back and forth multiple times with no clear timelines from the PingPong team.
Concerns over Blocking of Payments
A platform blocking payments is a nightmare for customers. A user had to go through that experience when her receivables and payments were blocked.
Skydo: A Viable PingPong Alternative to Receive International Payments in India
PingPong payments have built a strong reputation globally, however, its high fees and low transparency make it an expensive choice for freelancers and exporters. In addition to that, the reviews about restricting refunds and blocking transactions are worrisome.
Skydo is a more affordable and transparent alternative to PingPong Payments. The fee structure is simple and there are no hidden charges. For receiving a payment of under USD 2,000 you pay a fee of USD 19. For amounts between USD 2,001 to USD 10,000, the fee is USD 29 and for USD 10,000+ the fee is 0.3% of the amount. Moreover, there are no markups on the exchange rate, so the conversion is done based on the live forex rate.
Skydo also offers other benefits like a highly secure platform, no additional fees for FIRA, and a responsive local customer support team. With our support team based in India and working during Indian business hours, it’s always easy to get on a call or chat with them in case you get stuck. This is a huge perk if you’re just starting as an exporter or a freelancer. Having a trusted team by your side helps you to scale faster.
If you're open to looking at platforms beyond PingPong payments that are more supportive and cost-effective for your business, Skydo could be the right choice.
What Is Pingpong Payments?
PingPong Payments is a global payment platform that helps e-commerce sellers, exporters, and freelancers receive payments from international clients. It offers virtual bank accounts to accept payments in 15 different countries, thereby helping business owners to expand their businesses effortlessly.
Is PingPong a Chinese Company?
Is PingPong Payments Safe?
Is PingPong a Bank Account?
